Electric railway



(No MotigL) I V W. H. KNIGHT.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY. V No. 305,694. Petented Sept. 23, 1884.

WMZZZ N PETERS, nheteume re h. Wnsllinglnm a. ct

llrirrnn STATES FATENT Orrrce.

WALTER H. KNIGHT, or CLEVELAND, onto.

ELECTRIC RAlLWAY.

EJPECEEICATION forming part'of Letters Patent No. 305,694, dated September 23, 1884.

7 Application tiled August 6, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom- 13/; may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER H. KNIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, Ohio, have invented certain neW and useful Improvements in Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in an arrangement whereby the locomotives on an electric railway may be divided into groups containing constantly the same number of locomotives, the locomotives of each group being in multiple arc and the groups being in series.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows myinvention applied to a road in which the central station is at one end of a doubletrack or beltline road, and Fig. 2 shows. the same with the central station at the middle pointof a double-track road.

In my invention two main conductors, It and It, extend along the line of the railway, and two brushes connected with the propel ling-motor depend from the locomotive and make connection with the opposite rails, respectively, in the usual manner, These two conductors, 1t and R, are constructed in segments shorter than the minimum distance between any two groups of locomotives, which segments, before the starting of any locomotives, are connected by switches S, pivoted like a bell-crank lever, so as to form continuous conductors.

\Vhen the locomotives are sent out, they are divided into multiple-arc groups of a size proportionate to the business demands of the road at the time, by providing the last car or locomotive of a group with a projection, P, which is adapted to strike pin 8 on the successive switches S, and, moving the switch on its pivot, break the continuity of the main line at that point. to every second, third, tenth, or any other 10- comotive of the series, so that the group in multiple arc will consist of two, three, ten, or any desired number, according to the demands of the traffic at any hour of the day. In practice the projection may be attached to one of the contact brushes or shoes, as is shown in the drawings. \Vith any increase in the number of locomotives on a section the quantity of current will of course be simultaneously increased by varying the generative capacity of The projection can be attached l the source of supply. The alternate projections P on the locomotives, which may be called the opening locomotive or the opener, operate on one of the two conductors R R. Thus every other one opens the switches of R, and every other one those of R.

In the drawings, Fig. 1, the projections on A, C, and E operate on the switches of 1%, while those of locomotives B, D, and F ate switches of R.

Only two locomotives in a group are shown in the drawings, for reasons of economy in space; but any number may be included, as above explained. Opener O is shown just approaching a switch, E, in the act of operation, and A as just leaving a switch.

In operation the pin 8, as the switch turns on its pivot, passes out of the'path of projection P, and is thus left until it is closed by the leading locomotive of the next group. It will be seen that this action of the opener leaves the group to which it belongs constantly in series with any group or groups that may be behind it. Thus, in Fig. 1 the circuitmay be traced, as indicated by the small arrows, from generator G, to switch H, to conductor B, through locomotives F F in multiple are, to conductor It, and thence-E having opened its switch before F has closed tives E E in multiple arc, to conductor It, whence it passes in succession through groups D D, O G, B B, and A A, to contact-point a, through pivoted bar K, back to the generator. By this arrangement the section of the main conductor devoted to any group is always conterminous with the distance be tween thefirst and last locomotive of the group, expanding or contracting as the loco motives become farther apart or nearer together. The locomotives will be independent of one another, and the only precaution necessary is that there shall always be the length of one segment between the first locomotive of one section and the last one of the preceding section.

K is a switch-bar connected to onegenerator terminal and pivoted at its center, so as to make contact with either point (t or b, which are connected to conductors R and R", respectively, when in one or the other of its posithe preceding one-alongIt, through locomodu ctor behind it.

H shows the switch operated by hand.

The ends of the main conductors at the central station are connected to a series of gas or other secondary batteries, L L and M M, and contact-points Z Z and m m are connected to successive points in the series of batteries and are themselves in the path of the contact brushes, so that as the brushes leave or approach the ends of the main conductors the resistance of the batteries is cut in or out of circuit with the locomotive. Thus, as A progresses from the position shown the circuit through it will be from 'R to batteries M, contacts m, locomotivecontacts Z, batteries L, to conductor B. When the resistance and counter electro-motive force of the batteries are in circuit with the n1otor, the current through them is of course proportionately diminished, and any sparking occasioned by breaking the motor-circuit is equally diminished.

In Fig. 2 the generator is at the middle point of a'double-track road, and its two terminals lead, respectively, to two switch-bars, K, which are operated as above described. From each of th ese bars K the current branch es in two parts,which pass in opposite directions of the switches Sthe segmental conductors R,

R are constantly divided into sections correspond ng to the groups of locomotives, and that an uninterrupted connection is maintained between two conductors of succeeding sections. Thus, in Fig. 1 the section corresponding to locomotives D D is from S to S, and the section for E E is from S to S", while a connection is maintained between conductors R V of the two succeeding sections by means of -in multiple-arc connection with the opposite conductors of each section, and an uninterrupted connection between two conductors in adjacent sections, whereby the groups of loco.-

motives in multiple arc may be in series with one another.

2. The combination of two conductors extending along the line of an electric railway, switches at intervals adapted to interrupt the continuity of the conductors, a series of electriclocomotives in circuit between the c011- ductors, and devices carried by certain locomotives in the series for controlling the said switches, whereby the main conductors may be divided into sections and the current be caused to pass scriatim through a number of multiple-arc groups of locomotives.

8. The combination of a main generator, sectional conductors extending along the line of an electric railway, a group of electric locomotives in multiple-arc connection with the opposite conductors of each section, a connec tion between two conductors in adjacent sections, and a seriesof. switches in the main line adapted to be operated by the locomotives, whereby the sections may be always substan tially conterminouswith the distance between the first and last locomotives in the group.

4. The combination of the segmental conductors, the switches adapted to connect the successive segments, a series of electric locomotives in connection with said conductors and divided into groups, and devices on the first and last locomotives of each group for actuating said switches, the said devices acting on the switches of the two conductors alternately.

5. The combination, with the two adjacent ends of two sectionsof electric railway-conductor and connecting-brush of an electric locomotive, of a series of insulated contact points connected to successive points in a series of translating devices and placed in the path of said brush. 1

6. The combination of two contact-points IOU connected, respectively, to the two conductors of an electric railway and a switch connected to one terminal of the generator with an operating projection in the path of an electric locomotive, so as to be automatically operated by the said locomotive and pivoted to make contact with either of said contact-points.

'7. The combination, with the direct and return tracks of an electric railway, of a stationary generator situated at an intermediate point along the road and having its two terminals connected to the conductors of the two tracks, respectively, whereby branch currents may pass in opposite directions around the road.

XVALTER H. KNIGHT.

Vitnesses:

EDWIN H. ILUVLEY, EDWARD M. BENTLEY.

IIO 

